Hunter
by Pagemistress89
Summary: Harry Potter has been declared dead. But after the bodies of Death Eaters, and then their master, keep showing up, Dumbledore discovers that Harry's alive, although changed. And for some reason, Harry doesn't want to come back.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other canon characters or plots. JK Rowling does. Any characters that she doesn't own are mine, though.

Prologue

The year that would be Albus Dumbledore's fifty-second year as Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would forever be known to the _Daily _Prophet as the Death year. It was the only year that, at least once a week for three straight months, the page recording the deaths of the past week had more articles than the rest of the paper. The cause of such a grim record was that almost every wizard in the Dark Lord Voldemort's service died over the course of those three months. The first one to die was Peter Pettigrew, who the wizarding world had recorded as dead fourteen years before. The next was Bellatrix Lestrange. Her husband, Rodolphus, followed her two days later. Corpse after corpse found its way to a public wizarding place each morning. Every time, the body was dressed in Death Eater robes with the Dark Mark bared on its left arm. Every time, the forensic wizards could not discover the cause of death. Every time, the aurors could not find the one who inflicted death. The _Daily Prophet_ called the Death Eaters' killer the Hunter. The tenth article, describing the tenth kill, declared "no vigilante, in either wizarding or muggle history, in fiction or fact, has ever had such a perfect record. No other tale of any other enforcer of justice has ever had such a person. Has any other hunter been such a phantom, leaving no trace of his presence, magical or physical? The answer is no, and it leads the _Daily Prophet_ to wonder, is this Hunter even human?"

The Death Eaters, though, weren't the only notable wizarding deaths of the year. More important than any of them was the one that preceded them all, because that September, Harry James Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, was declared dead. Unlike the criminals, however, his body was not to be found. He had been captured on the seventh of September of his fifth year at Hogwarts by Voldemort and sealed into a cave. Five days later, Dumbledore and other powerful wizards finally managed to break into the cave, but to the grief of everyone who ever knew and cared for the young wizard, he was gone. In fact, if it weren't for his wand lying in the cave, a large amount of his blood in the cave, and two hands, obviously cut off his arms a few inches above his wrists, no one would have thought that he had ever been in there. But the hands, blood, and wand were there, and wand and hands were buried in the Godric's Hollow cemetery with a headstone to declare whose they were.

Then, three and a half months after Harry's death, the _Daily Prophet_ gleefully reported the appearance of a new body in the main street of Hogsmeade: the body of Lord Voldemort, Dark Lord and master of the Death Eaters. Unlike his followers' bodies, his was riddled with injuries, and his wand was found next to him, snapped into four pieces.

And for the first time in three and a half months, Albus Dumbledore felt hope. He knew the prophecy uttered fifteen years ago by Sybil Trelawney, and he knew that the only way Voldemort could have died was for Harry Potter, Voldemort's marked equal, to have killed him. Therefore, there was no way for the young wizard to be dead. Feeling young again, he gathered all of his copies of the last three months of _Daily Prophet_ articles and a detailed map of Britain, and began plotting. Perhaps there was a pattern to the kills. Perhaps Harry could be found.


	2. Chapter 1: Retrieval

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other canon characters or plots. JK Rowling does. Any characters that she doesn't own are mine, though.

Chapter 1: Retrieval

Dumbledore strode across his yard, positive that his venture would be successful. He had worked nonstop for three days, studying his map and all of his interviews with young Harry over the years, as well as every report on the deaths of every Death Eater for the past three months and of Voldemort. For three days now he had hunted for the location of his errant and most famous student, Harry Potter. He had discovered, after the first day, a pattern in the killings, and he used that to determine Harry's route. Twelve hours ago he had realized that while most people considered all of the Death Eaters dead and gone, there was one left: Lucius Malfoy. He had spent the past twelve hours trying to determine where, exactly, Malfoy Manor was. Now, he felt he had been successful. Now he thought he knew where to find the fifteen year old hero. Now he could retrieve him, and that's what he planned to do today.

Nearing his destination, he had to stop when he saw a snake lying in his path, sleeping. He couldn't recognize the species, but he saw the changing size (it was growing up to six feet, then shrinking back down as it inhaled and exhaled), and he knew that snakes were never silver, gold, green, and red. Besides, he did have a very good danger sense, and it was currently telling him to stay very far away from this snake.

Unfortunately, his planned escape was foiled when the serpent woke up and began to regard the old man. It hissed, and then used its tail to throw an amulet at him. An amulet that Dumbledore caught out of reflex and quickly discovered its amazing property.

_You are the Headmaster of Hogwarts, correct?_ Amazed that he could suddenly understand the hissing, Dumbledore responded. Part of him noted that the snake had settled on a size: three feet long.

"Yes."

_Technically, I should not let you, among others, anywhere near my master. However, considering the circumstances, I think it would be best that I disobey. He needs help, and I beg you to give it to him._

"Who is your master?" Dumbledore, already accustomed to the strangeness of the conversation, was a bit uneasy nonetheless. If this was one of Voldemort's snakes …

_I will not say his name, and I have been expressly ordered to not describe him to anyone. Now, will you help my master?_ Dumbledore hesitated, and then nodded. _Excellent_. The snake began to slither away, Dumbledore following closely, ready to draw his wand at a moment's alarm. Eventually he noticed that they were nearing the place where he thought Harry was, and realized that the snake's bite would only leave two punctures almost invisible to the eye. But his train of thought was interrupted when he saw two bodies lying on the banks near the river. Both were very familiar.

"Harry!" The boy was lying on his back covered in blood, with a sword near him, blood stained. Dumbledore started towards him, only vaguely realizing that Lucius Malfoy was next to him, obviously dead, but he hesitated for a moment and turned to the snake. "How did this happen?"

_My master took on the last of the Death Eaters, Lucius Malfoy. But the Death Eater had set traps for anyone who approached his home. The manor is now destroyed, as you can see. _Dumbledore noticed now that rubble was lying a few yards away, the only remains of a once great mansion. _But before my master destroyed the house and its master, the traps did enough damage that the Death Eater was able to put up a fight and injure my master. That was two days ago. He has not yet woken up since the battle, and those who sent him after the Death Eater do not care for his welfare. Only his owl and I worry when he confronts each Death Eater. Only his owl and I were concerned when I was unable to pierce the Dark Lord's skin and kill him, forcing my master to use his sword and fight a long battle. His owl is hunting now, but when she is not, we both have sat by our master's side, waiting in vain for him to awake. Now I realize that for him to wake, we need your help. My master will not admit it, but he wants his old life again. I need you to restore that, and his health, to him._

"I intend to," Dumbledore replied. He moved to Harry's side and looked around. The young wizard's glasses were not on his face or anywhere else to be found.

_My master's vision was corrected some time ago. If you intend to move him –_

"I do."

_– then take the sword and my master. I shall call his owl, and she will take me to you. Go now. When I arrive, I will instruct you on how to assist him._

"Very well. Thank you, er, what is your name?"

_My master calls me Misno. In your language, it means "Fang", short for Asismisno, or "Crimson Fang"._

"Well, then. Thank you, Misno."

_You're welcome. Now go!_ Dumbledore gathered Harry's things, privately amused at being ordered about by a snake familiar. He noticed then that even though he himself had seen the two hands in the cave and had seen Poppy identify them magically as Harry's hands, cut from his arms, there were two natural-looking hands attached to the boy's arms. Putting the thought away for later investigation, he turned a twig into a portkey and put it in Harry's hand, still holding it himself.

A moment later, they were at the hospital wing of Hogwarts and he was carefully setting the sword down. Fortunately, it was winter break, and no student would dare ruin his holiday by admitting to sickness or injury, so the hospital wing was empty except for the nurse.

"Ah, Poppy! Would you be so kind as to assist me?" He caught her attention and watched in amusement as she recognized the student that was her most frequent visitor. He was relieved, though, to see her ignore her shock and get straight to inspecting Harry. Once she had ascertained for herself that he was in no immediate danger, she turned to Dumbledore.

"Headmaster, I've seen strange things in my life, but this takes the cake! I thought that this boy was dead! And I know for a fact that even if he wasn't, his hands should not still be attached to him! I saw them – I know they were his! How are they here, still attached? How is he here, for that matter?" Dumbledore stopped her questions with a raised hand and a quiet chuckle.

"Poppy, if you will give me a moment, I will explain as best I can, though I must admit, even I am amazed that Harry is still alive and in one piece. But if you would set to healing him first?"

"Oh! Of course." She pulled out her wand and got to work.

"As for what happened to him, well, as far as I know, Harry was in a battle with Lucius Malfoy, the late Death Eater. Malfoy was apparently more cunning and survival-oriented than his associates, and had set traps for Harry. These injuries are the result."

"_Late_ Death Eater?" the medi-witch repeated in obvious amazement, though her wand didn't stop. "Did Potter kill him?" He nodded.

"Along with all the other Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort," he confirmed, pleased to see her hold back the reflex flinch.

"So, Potter is the Hunter?" she asked, still amazed. At his nod, she shook her head. "And he's not yet even taken his OWLs. Why can't this boy pursue normal, safe activities? Even when he's legally dead, I still have to heal him. Albus, do you know if some particular curse has been placed on him? He ought to be awake by now. He's not magically or physically exhausted, I've healed all his wounds – the only thing I can't get rid of is this blood! I mean, I've cleaned off half of it, but the rest! What's wrong?" Turning to face the Headmaster, she caught sight of the window and screamed slightly. "What's that?" Dumbledore looked at the window and smiled a bit when he saw what had scared her. He flicked his wand at the glass and opened the window enough for the snowy owl to fly through with her passenger, which was now less than a foot long.

"They would be Harry's pets. The owl is Hedwig. I believe Hagrid purchased her for Harry's eleventh birthday. As for the snake, all I know is that it is Harry's, and his name is Misno. He is very loyal to Harry, and I believe he will be assisting us, or we him, in awaking Mr. Potter."

"And how will a ­­snake do that, Headmaster?" He handed her the amulet without letting go of it, and both of them heard Misno's reply.

_I am quite capable of it, Madam. Is he completely healed? Yes, I can see he is. Thank you._

"That was – English! But – how – that's impossible!" Poppy stuttered out.

_My master created the amulet that you hold, on a … whim of his, I believe. It was also a form of rebellion, I suppose, about a week after I met him. It ought to have been destroyed, but I saved it, and I keep it in my possession for moments like these._

"A moment," Dumbledore spoke up. "That's the second time you have mentioned disobeying to help Harry. Who are you disobeying? Who was Harry rebelling against?" That Harry should feel some need to rebel was disturbing, to say the least. Not to mention that he had somehow managed to create an amulet allowing anyone to understand Parseltongue.

Ignoring the questions, Misno turned to Madam Pomfrey. _Enough chatter. Madam, will you step aside for a moment?_ As soon as the path to his master was clear, the snake slithered onto his master, curling around his wrist. Before Madam Pomfrey or Dumbledore could stop him, two gleaming white fangs sank into Harry's wrist. The adults stared in horror, then awe, as Harry's eyes slowly opened. The teenager glanced down at the snake, who was now hissing contently, wrapped firmly around his master's forearm. Then Harry took in his surroundings, and Dumbledore watched in amusement as the green eyes registered first recognition, then shock, and finally anger. He sat up and plucked Misno off his arm and hissed at him. Dumbledore picked up the amulet again, curious.

_" – bringing me here?"_

_You never ordered me not to. ­They did, and you know, master, that I need not obey them. _

_"But I do! Besides, I don't want them seeing me again! You knew that very well!"_

_Then you should have ordered me not to let them near you,_ came the oh-so-innocent reply. Dumbledore grinned, his eyes twinkling at full blast.

"You mustn't blame your familiar, Harry. I had already discovered your approximate location and would have found you anyway. It is thanks to him, though, that you are awake." Harry glared at his headmaster.

"How did you – ah ha! So, Fang gave you that, huh? I thought I god rid of that months ago."

"It is fortunate that you did not," Dumbledore said mildly. "Magical items should never be carelessly left around for anyone to find. Besides, I don't think it's a good idea to ignore an invention that I'm sure would fascinate quite a few wizards. The Department of Mysteries would love it, at least. Why don't you try to market these, Harry?" He was shocked to see the teen stiffen, and began to pry. "Or is there someone you don't want aware of the continued existence of your invention? Misno mentioned that you made it partially to rebel. Who are you rebelling against, Harry?" Harry flinched slightly and glared at his familiar. He snatched the amulet out of Dumbledore's hands and began to hiss at his snake. Misno appeared to retort, sparking an argument between the two. Deprived of the translating amulet, Dumbledore was almost overcome with a desire for a natural ability to understand the hissing. Glancing at Poppy, he thought that she might just feel the same.

Finally, Harry ended the debate with his pet and stood. "It doesn't concern you, Headmaster. I appreciate your help in healing me and waking me up, both of you. But I can't stay here, sir." Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.

"Why not? You are still a student here, Harry, and an underage wizard. Besides, you've killed all the Death Eaters and Voldemort. What could keep you from attending school as the law requires?" Harry smiled grimly.

"In case you forgot, sir, I'm legally dead, so I'm not a student anywhere. And who said Voldemort was the reason I've stayed away? No, Professor, like I said, it does not concern you. So long as that gravestone says I'm dead, you – and everyone else – have no claim on me." With that, Harry scooped up his unsheathed sword and stalked out of the room, his snake once again wrapped around his forearm and his sword and amulet both firmly in his grasp.


	3. Chapter 2: An Unwilling Reunion

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other canon characters or plots. JK Rowling does. Any characters that she doesn't own are mine, though.

Chapter 2: An Unwilling Reunion

Harry shook his head. He couldn't believe this! First Malfoy had had the nerve to put up traps, knocking him out for two days, and then Dumbledore had to find him and take him to Hogwarts! What did Fate have against him? Never mind. That was probably the most idiotic question he had ever asked.

_Master, must you be so harsh? They were worried about you. You said yourself that they would all be upset when they thought you were dead._ Misno hissed at his master. And why was his snake helping them? It was downright weird, considering his familiar's origins.

_"I am dead! To them, I am dead. Life would have been easier for them if they could just move on. Now they know I'm alive, and they'll want to see me, but I can't let them."_

_Why not? Lucius Malfoy was the last Death Eater – you could at least try for a semi-normal life._ Harry snorted. Again, when you factored in who gave the snake to him, Misno's thought process made absolutely no sense.

_"You know as well as I do that he'll never let me go. There will always be evil people wanting to get power. You know that he sees me as an easy way to deal with those people. Death Eaters, Neo-Nazis, political fanatics, blood fanatics, whatever. It'll never end. His use for me will never end. I can never have even a semi-normal life, Fang, you know that!"_ It was really depressing. All his life he had wanted to be normal, but Fate would never allow that, it seemed. If only Voldemort hadn't put him in that cave.

"Harry! Oh, Harry!" Through his (very bad) peripheral vision, he saw two blurs in Hogwarts robes run up, waving their arms. A moment later, he had to stop when one attached itself to him. Or rather, herself. Harry grimaced. He had forgotten that Hermione got clingy when she was emotional. To his left, Ron was grinning broadly. It looked as if he was barely restraining himself from flinging himself onto Harry, as well.

"How've you been, mate? We all thought you were dead! How'd you escape that cave, huh?" Blunt as always. Wonderful.

"Why does it matter, Ron?" He asked, exasperated. All he wanted was to go clean his sword and yell at his familiars. But no, he had to deal with these two. "I'm out. I'm alive, for the most part. And I'm as healthy as I should be, all things considered. Does the method really matter?" A good point for him, too. Voldemort was dead. He had enough power to ensure that others like him didn't rise to power. Did it really matter what he gave up for that power? He grimaced again. He hated mental debates.

"Matter? Of course it matters, Harry! I mean, it is absolutely wonderful that you are alive, and I don't really care how it happened, but what if it happens again? We might need that knowledge!" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Right, and even if that unlikely circumstance doesn't occur, and the many factors that let me escape aren't needed, then you're still curious," was his dry reply. Hermione flushed slightly.

"Well, you must admit it's intriguing, Harry."

"Actually, I don't need to, since I'm not at all fond of the memory." When their faces lit in anticipation, he clarified. "I was in a panic and about to die. Why do you think I would have liked that?" He smirked when they both flushed.

"Anyway, mate, I've got a question, too. When they said you were dead, they said that they knew since there was too much blood for you to have survived. And," Ron licked his lips, nervous. His eyes flicked down to Harry's hands, then back to his face. "They said that they found two hands. Your hands. But they're right there." Hermione glanced down, startled, at his hands, too. Irritated, Harry stuck his hands in his pockets and scowled.

"That's right! I thought something was off about your appearance – not that it's bad," she said hurriedly, "but well, oh never mind."

"Good," Harry growled. "It's none of your business, either of you. Now if you don't mind, I need to be going." He brushed them both away and stalked towards the huge doors that led outside. To his great dismay, Ron and Hermione both jogged to catch up.

"Wait a minute, mate. Where are you going?"

"You don't mean you're leaving Hogwarts?" Harry growled under his breath and turned to his now twelve inch snake.

"_Could you bite them or grow really big? Scare them off." _Misno simply looked amused, if a snake could.

_What would be the point? They are your friends, Master. Why should your familiar scare them?_ Yep, he was amused.

_"A twenty foot long snake baring his fangs should scare them. Hermione was Petrified by a basilisk when we were twelve and Ron's little sister was almost killed by one. If you grew to about the size of a small basilisk, you might scare them." _

"Blimey! Harry, you could have mentioned that you had a snake! Where'd you get it? What are you saying?" Curse it. Ron just looked startled and interested. Stupid Gryffindor courage. Maybe Hermione…

"What kind of snake is that, Harry? I don't think I've ever heard of one with those colors. And yes, what are you saying?" Double curse it. Neither of them was afraid. And why did they have to keep asking questions he couldn't answer? He felt another fleeting longing to be able to tell them. But no, he couldn't. Bad enough that the amulet had survived, that they all knew he was alive. He wouldn't make it worse, which meant that he had to get out now!

"Like I keep saying, I can't tell you! I have absolutely no business with you two. You have none with me. So leave me alone!" Making a quick gesture designed to freeze them in their tracks. He ignored their earlier questions. Of course he was leaving Hogwarts. He couldn't stay and attend Hogwarts. Though, he really wished – no! He wanted to leave. That was it.

Finally, he had reached the doors. Ignoring the feel his old friends' hurt looks on his back, he yanked a door open and strode out.

_Master, do you mind if I stay? I would like to look through this Forbidden Forest._

_"Do as you wish. Just return when I need you, okay? Hey, where's Hedwig, by the way?"_

_I believe she went hunting._

_"And I guess that's what you want, too, huh?"_

_Partially._

_"Well, I don't care too much what you do in there. Go ahead."_ Given Harry's permission, Misno slithered to the ground, grew another foot, and headed for the forest. Harry watched him for a moment, then shrugged and began jogging towards the end of the apparition wards. He couldn't apparate, but he could make it look like he had. That should throw them up. Harry just hoped that he would let him. Well, it was in an attempt to follow orders, so it should be okay.

"Where did he go?" Dumbledore asked the two shell-shocked Gryffindors. Frowning when neither made any move to respond, he tried a few charms on them to counteract whatever Harry must have done. Nothing worked. As he tried to think how he and Poppy had freed themselves from the same spell, they both suddenly shook off their paralysis. He sighed. So it was a timed spell. Where had Harry learned of such a thing?

"Professor! We need to hurry! Harry ran off! He – he said that he had no business with us, he froze us somehow, and he ran off!" Hermione cried with Ron nodding. Both began fingering their wands. He had no doubt that they were thinking of hexing their friend to remind him not to do that again.

"Which way did he go?" he asked, urgently. When Hermione pointed the direction, he nodded, and the three of them headed that way. Maybe they could get him before he was spotted and scared someone. After all, famous dead wizards simply did not walk around with snakes curled around them. Famous dead wizards didn't walk in the first place. No dead person did. Some floated, but – he shook his head to stop his rambling thoughts. Harry was not dead, though he was walking around with a snake. He had to get Harry back. After all, he had schooling to finish, and how would anyone believe them if they didn't prove that Harry was alive with Harry? Besides, he still wanted to understand what was wrong with Harry. Who was he rebelling against?

A sudden thought chilled him. What if whatever was giving Harry orders didn't want Harry around those of his old life? Would the young man get in trouble for letting them find him, and then speaking with them? How would he be punished?

Suddenly, a white owl swooped down in front of them, stopping them. Recognizing Hedwig, the three began to worry. Had Harry sent her to stop them? When Misno slithered to block their path further, Hermione and Ron began to panic. After all, who wouldn't when they saw a snake that had been a foot long, but was now two and a half feet long and growing larger every second? His tail whipped at them, and Ron caught the amulet. Eyes twinkling, Dumbledore laid a finger on it and motioned for Hermione to touch it as well. The two poor teenagers were surprised again, when the hissing made sense.

_Don't bother to follow our master. You won't find him. _

"Why not?" Ron demanded.

_He is … very skilled at disappearing._ Landing on the ground, Hedwig hooted and bobbed her head in agreement.

"Then, Misno, would you be willing to explain just what has happened to Harry? Something is most certainly off. Who is he rebelling against?" Ron and Hermione threw surprised looks at him. He explained to them what Misno had told him about the amulet, and his suspicions.

_You are correct. My master is forced to obey the one who freed him from the cave. The same one gave my master his sword, as well as me. If you don't mind putting off your search for my master, I will try to explain. But understand, I cannot reveal all. I know what happened, but he ordered my master to order me to not reveal his identity. Nor can I explain Master's true capabilities, or how it is he kills._

"Kills? Who has Harry killed?" Hermione turned pale as she put two and two together. "You mean, the Hunter, he's Harry? He killed twenty-five Death Eaters?"

"As well as Lord Voldemort, and Lucius Malfoy," Dumbledore confirmed. "It was due to his rather, ah, disastrous duel with the late Mr. Malfoy that I was able to find Harry at all. Mr. Malfoy had anticipated an attempt on his life and set traps. Harry was apparently caught by some of them, or destroying them distracted him enough that Mr. Malfoy could attack him and do a great deal of damage. That was two days ago, and when I found Harry, he was still lying where he killed the man, and hadn't woken up yet." He was saddened to see the looks of horror on the teenagers' faces, but he understood. Anyone would be upset to learn that their fifteen-year-old best friend had gone on a killing spree of Death Eaters, and that the last kill had knocked him out for two days.

_It does not matter, _interrupted the snake. _That is in the past. My master did not have a choice when he killed them, as I had no choice when he had to order me to inject them with my venom. What does matter is you understanding enough to help my master regain his old life, or at least parts of it. He will not admit it, even to himself, but he longs for it desperately. He has simply given up hope. Now, I ask you, will you learn and study and discover my master's plight, and help him?_ Startled, the three looked at the snake, who was now six feet long and shrinking.

"What are you talking about?" Ron demanded. "Are you nuts? Of course we'll help Harry! Now start talking, snake!" Hermione and Dumbledore nodded their assent, but Dumbledore held up a hand.

"Just a moment. I am not sure that we are the only ones who should hear this. Sirius and Remus also have a stake in this. Sirius is Harry's godfather, and Remus may as well be. Besides, I doubt they would be pleased to hear that we withheld knowledge of Harry's continued life from them any longer than necessary." At that, the teenagers grinned sheepishly and agreed.

_Very well. But hurry and fetch them. My master will need to report in soon, and I would prefer to finish this before then._

"We'll be quick." Dumbledore promised, while wondering again who Harry answered to, and what would happen when whoever it was found out what happened. What kind of danger was Harry in, thanks to him?

Author's Note: So, I came back from Utah, and then three days later, I was dragged down to Maryland and D.C. Spent most of the time either in a car or staring at statues and paintings and memorials. Boring! The only good part was when we went to the Washington DC temple. I love that temple. But anyway, that experience wasn't very conducive to writing. However! In Utah, I wrote about four pages (handwritten) of information about the one controlling Harry at my friend's house, and then I wrote approximately five pages (handwritten again) of chapter summaries. Very looong chapter summaries. Unfortunately, I was away from a computer while I did that and forgot how I ended this chapter. So in order for me to continue, I had to rewrite a bit. Hope you don't mind. But don't worry. Chapter 3 will have a lot of explanations! Although, um, it's a bit wordy. What took me a sentence to explain in my summary took about 590 words (one page) in the actual chapter. And that was the minor part of the chapter! You guys better appreciate all that my hands are going through getting these chapters out.

Anyway, I really like what's coming up next. Chapter 3 will be out either today or tomorrow. I'm not sure which. Hopefully today.

Please review!


	4. Chapter 3: Learning More

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other canon characters or plots. JK Rowling does. Any characters that she doesn't own are mine, though.

Chapter 3: Learning More

As was always the case after the full moon these days, when Dumbledore knocked on the door at Grimmauld Place (he was the only one who ever bothered to; the rest simply apparated in), it opened to reveal an exhausted Sirius Black. Sirius always seemed to be tired and thin these days, but unlike Remus, whose appearance was caused by his lycanthropy, Sirius had simply lost almost all drive for living. Everyone had been hit hard by the declaration of Harry's death, but Sirius took the news worse than anyone else. Dumbledore privately thought that Remus was the only one keeping him alive now. The last time he had dinner with the two, he had seen the werewolf quietly badger the convict into first putting food on his plate, and then actually eating it. Since they met in the Shrieking Shack and Harry saved his life multiple times that night, Sirius' entire life was Harry. For the boy to have seemingly died and in such an obviously painful way (no one could lose that much blood painlessly) had practically killed the man.

Dumbledore could not wait to give the news and revive the animagus.

So when Sirius was still breaking out a thin smile at the sight of his old headmaster, Dumbledore wasted no time with pleasantries. "I've found Harry. He's alive," he said simply, though in hindsight, he mused, watching Sirius just barely catch himself on a chair, perhaps he should have prepared Sirius first. He had, after all, just spent the night in dog form running around with a werewolf. Add that to twelve years in Azkaban Prison, being in his hated childhood home, and almost four months of grieving, and the result was very poor nerves. Yes, he decided as Sirius gaped at him, he should have had Sirius sit down first.

"Alive?" the convict gasped. "Harry's actually alive? Dumbledore, this better not be a joke. Please, tell me it's not a joke." The old headmaster smiled gently.

"It's no joke, Sirius. I managed to find Harry down by, well, near the ruins of a house. He was unconscious then, but he woke shortly after I brought him to Hogwarts. Granted, he didn't seem pleased to see me, and I don't have anywhere near the whole story, and furthermore he ran off as soon as he could, but he is alive."

"Ran off?" Sirius repeated. "Why? Wait, don't tell me yet. Let me get Remus. He'd kill me if I let you explain – which you are going to do – while he's not here." He ran up to the lycanthrope's room. A few minutes later, a strangled yell emerged from there, and another few minutes after, the source and his friend also came out and downstairs. Remus looked even worse than Sirius, but that was understandable, considering the night he had just had.

"Harry is alive? How? Where is he? What happened? Is he –" he cut himself off when Dumbledore raised a hand.

"Remus, Sirius, I promise, I'll explain everything as soon as possible. However, I'm afraid that I don't have the entire story. If you'll come with me to Hogwarts, though, there is someone who does know more than me. Hopefully, he'll be able to clear everything up."

"You mean Harry?" Sirius asked eagerly. "But you said he ran off. What do you mean?" Dumbledore chuckled.

"Again, I promise, come to Hogwarts with me and you'll soon know as much as I do. Here." In his hand was a portkey. They took it with him. In moments they were all in his office and were greeted by Ron and Hermione. Pleasantries were quickly exchanged, and then Ron gestured towards the window.

"Misno left and went hunting. He said he'd be back in a few hours. He took the amulet with him, too. But sir, even after he comes back, how are we going to all hold it? Hermione and I had a hard enough time with just us. But five people?" Hermione was nodding her agreement

"That is a problem, yes, but I'm hoping that an enlargement spell will work. I don't dare a duplication spell. Those are impossible, and sometimes dangerous, unless you know exactly what you're duplicating, which I don't. Even an enlargement spell might ruin the fabric of spells." Turning to the confused marauders, he explained. "The one who I'm hoping will explain is actually a snake named Misno. He is Harry's familiar and has in his possession an invention of Harry's: an amulet that translates Parseltongue into English. Misno, while loyal to Harry, seems to want us to help restore Harry's life to him, and so has agreed to help us find him.

"But while we wait on him, I may as well explain as much as I know. For starters, I should explain that shortly before he was born, a prophecy was made. Its wording is irrelevant now, but essentially it described the one who would defeat Voldemort. Most of the description could mean either Harry or Neville Longbottom. However, the final criterion was 'marked as his equal', and when Harry survived the Killing Curse, he was indeed marked by Voldemort as his equal. The prophecy said that eventually, Harry and Voldemort would fight, and only one would survive in the end. Therefore, when Voldemort died, I knew that Harry had to still be alive, and I quickly deduced that he was the Hunter…" Ignoring any questions, glances, or movements, Dumbledore continued to sketch out the past few days for them from his point of view. At his request, Ron and Hermione explained Harry's attitude when they confronted him. Dumbledore then told them of his suspicions, that someone was pulling Harry's strings and that Harry didn't like that. He also told them how Harry escaped, or at least, his point of view.

"Couldn't he be using his invisibility cloak?" Remus asked thoughtfully. Ron shook his head.

"Can't be. His cloak is still in his trunk – I've used it once or twice." He flushed at their inquiring glances and Hermione snickered.

"It was to hide from Fred and George. They've been so bored lately that they've taken to tease anyone who was in detention with Umbridge, and that makes Ron a big target." Professor Delores Umbridge was the new DADA teacher, and it was a mark of her horrid personality that Dumbledore didn't even attempt to remind her of the High Inquisitor's status as teacher. Remus and Sirius grinned.

"Would you like to try some payback, Ron?" Ron grinned back, but shook his head.

"Not until we've got Harry back and safe. Then, I'd love to. Actually," he added thoughtfully, "Ginny might agree to help out, too. She's in the same strait I'm in with the twins, and she's brilliant with pranks." Hermione rolled her eyes, but then she also smiled.

"Look, everyone. Misno's back. Sirius, Remus, this is Harry's familiar, Asismisno, more commonly called Misno." The two gaped at the snake that couldn't seem to be able to decide on a size as it slithered up to the group. In his tail he grasped a beautiful amulet. It seemed to be made of weightless gold and had a green snake on it in the shape of a 'T'. When Dumbledore took it and enlarged it just enough for the five to all comfortably grasp it, the snake began hissing.

_Is this everyone you want here?_

"Yes," confirmed the Headmaster.

_Good. Now, it's time for me to begin. First, I must explain to you that there are two types of divinity. The higher form is the Creator Gods. They, as their name suggests, create worlds, universes, and all that that entails. They rule and judge the humans. There is never more than one God ruling a world. The God of Christians and Jews is the God of this world and he forbids his worshipers to bow before any deity but himself. But, even though this world's God does not allow them in his religion, there is also the lower form of divinity. They are merely gods, lords over the powers that can guide a human's life, sometimes called the 'powers that be'. The more important ones would be the goddess of luck, the goddess of destiny, the god of magic, the god (or goddess – nobody is ever sure) of chaos, and the god of fate. _

_Each god occasionally chooses an avatar, and recently, the god of fate chose my master for his. More specifically, he called my master to be a Hunter. As a result, my master is bound and sealed to Fate. Somewhere on my master is something that represents this contract, but I am not permitted to say, nor is my master. Either way, that means that my master's life will be forever devoted to Fate's will and that his expertise in Fate's service is destroying Evil, the enemy to all gods. That is why my master has been hunting Death Eaters and the Dark Lord. They were all judged to be evil and so had to be destroyed. I n return for his service, my master received the power to do so, me, and a magical sword. My master is now powerful and has achieved revenge for his parents and everyone else killed by Voldemort or his followers. But my master is young still, and he craves a normal life. He tells me that even in his childhood, his life was completely abnormal and that it only became more so on his eleventh birthday. He mentioned once that his greatest dream was to have a family, one of his very own, that no one could ever take away, one that would always love him. He has given up on this dream now, believing that Fate would never allow this. But even if he cannot escape Fate's grasp, and even if he can never be one of the crowd, I would like to give my master some chance at least a semi-normal life. A chance to fulfill his dream._

"Hold on," interrupted Sirius. "Are you saying that the god of fate is now in complete control of my godson? Harry's a slave to him?" He was obviously upset.

_Yes. My master cannot disobey. That is, he can, but he will not, not anymore. Creating this amulet was a small form of rebellion, and Fate was slightly amused by it, so my master escaped punishment then so long as he destroyed this and the other one. You see, my master also created an amulet translating Owlspeak. But unlike Hedwig, I managed to save this one from being destroyed by my master. The second time my master rebelled, it was to give in to his anger and cause the Dark Lord great pain before killing him. But then Fate put my master through intense pain, enough that he won't even try Fate's patience anymore. _

_Before, when a Death Eater barricaded himself in his home, guarded by deadly wards, my master simply waited them out. He would set up his own wards, preventing House Elves and the like to fetch food from external sources and preventing anyone inside from conjuring anything. He would then wait until the Death Eater had to leave the house to survive and then strike. But Fate did not like that, so when Fate ordered my master to kill Lucius Malfoy, my master did not follow his usual methods. Instead, he blasted the wards, destroying the house and weakening himself. Then, when the Death Eater engaged my master he had the advantage and my master only barely managed to kill him. In fact, he could not even heal himself like usual and was unconscious until the Headmaster brought my master here for healing. But that also will incite Fate's wrath._

"Misno, I am sorry to interrupt, but it might help if you were to tell us what Harry is forbidden to do," Dumbledore interjected quickly. Everyone else agreed.

_You are quite right. I am sorry to have omitted such information. Essentially, my master was ordered to hide his powers and leave no evidence, magical or physical, of his presence. He may not do anything that might alert anyone to his continued existence, such as being near anyone of the wizarding world (unless he's about to kill them, of course) or people who once knew him. He is to use his powers only in that which is Fate's will. That is why creating the amulets was rebellion. My master did it only on a whim, to see if he could, but without the order from Fate, he would have kept them. _

"So, what's going to happen to Harry once Fate knows that we know Harry's alive?" Ron asked the question that was now on everyone's mind.

_Unless my master can provide a good enough excuse, he will be punished. Severely._

"So what can we do? How can we help him if he can't even be near us?" Hermione put everyone's follow-up question into the air, but this time, Remus, not Misno, answered.

"We convince Fate that Harry's interaction with us is not Harry's fault. If we make it look like Harry had absolutely no choice…" Sirius grinned.

"Alrighty then. Headmaster, Ron, Hermione, would you three mind doing some research? You know, stuff on this god of Fate. See if anything mentions contract symbols. Remus and I will figure out how to capture, interrogate, and imprison Harry, unless you mind, Remus? I know you love research? Excellent. Misno, I think it'd be best if you help us out. You mind? Great. Let's start 'Operation Save Harry's Life From Meddling Gods.'" When Remus rolled his eyes at the title, the animagus grinned. "What? I've always wanted to do an auror-type operation!" Shaking their heads at the convict, the three assigned research headed for the library while the marauders and snake began planning. With any luck, Harry would be safe and sound at Hogwarts within a week.


	5. Chapter 4a: Contemplation

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other canon characters or plots. JK Rowling does. Any characters that she doesn't own are mine, though.

Chapter 4: Contemplation

Harry sighed as he watched the magnificent colors of sunrise paint the sky. It was morning at last. He hadn't been able to sleep last night, or the night before. In fact, he hadn't slept at all since he woke up about three days ago in the Hospital Wing. He was afraid that if he did, he would dream about them. About home. Another sigh escaped him, but this one was one of frustration, not fatigue. Ron. Hermione. Dumbledore. Madam Pomfrey. He couldn't stop thinking about them. He couldn't keep back his anger. He had been with them. He had been at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had found him. He had brought him home. He had been home.

Harry growled and shook his head. He had to stop thinking like this. He had another day to himself, and then he had to report in. When he found out that Harry had let himself be seen, be touched, be spoken to, and that Harry had spoken to them, he would be furious. No ifs about it. He had been specifically ordered not to let anyone know he was alive, unless he killed that person until the news could spread. And there was no way Harry would kill any of his friends. _No_, he reminded himself, _not friends. Ex-friends._ He couldn't have friends anymore. After all, how could someone who was alive and legally dead have friends. No, they weren't his friends anymore. And the next time he saw them – _which can never happen again_ – he would be even ruder, even harsher. No matter how much it hurt him.

No. He had to stop thinking like this. That part of his life was over. It was buried, just like his wand and old hands. Buried with a gravestone above it. A gravestone with his name. He grimaced. Whoever said that it was funny to be at your own funeral, or whoever implied that, was wrong. It was weird, yes, but not funny. Not funny to see your best mate crying like a baby, or your other best friend crying even worse on his shoulder. It was not funny to see the faces of Dumbledore, Professor Lupin, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and his professors as they spoke at his funeral. It was hard to not go to them and comfort them. So hard, not to stop the tears. But orders were orders, and so he couldn't. He was legally dead. That part of his life was over. His life was over.

His life. What a mess that was. He was Harry James Potter, the son of a pureblooded marauder and Head Boy and the son of a muggleborn yet powerful Head Girl. He was an orphan. He was the Boy-Who-Lived. He became a hero at fifteen months when a crazy magical terrorist murdered his parents and failed to do the same to him, Harry. He was then sent to live with his magic-hating aunt, her normality-and-reality-obsessed husband, and their obese, spoiled bully of a son.

He was raised in a small closet until he was eleven, when a half-giant came and told him that he was magical. Said half-giant took him to the same school for magic that his parents attended. Only then did he gain any sense of self-worth.

Every year after that he made new friends and learned more of his heritage. And every year he had to fight for his life. His fifth year at that school, he was facing death by either starvation, thirst, or suffocation (or all three) when a god appeared to enlist him. Harry still wasn't sure if Fate saved him because he was feeling generous or because Harry was useless to him as a corpse. Not that it mattered. He was alive, yes, but he was now in Fate's service, and had to obey Fate's every order.

Now? Now he was a hero, a vigilante, a phantom, a murderer. Now he ran from the only home he had ever known and from his best friends. Why? Because the god of fate commanded him to. He had never let his uncle beat him down, he never let Snape or Malfoy push him around, and he had certainly never bowed down to Voldemort. Yet all it took was a word from Fate and he submitted instantly. Why should he? Fate took everything from Harry, made him kill over and over, and he had to beg for a few days without bloodshed. He had to beg like a dog. And he hated it. He hated – _no_. He had to stop thinking like that. Had to stop thinking about them. Harry was his tool, his weapon, his agent. That's it. Nothing more. Even if he did wish he could – _no_. Never. Never never never. Never free, never again. Harry sighed again.

_Greetings, master._ Harry turned and was pleasantly surprised. He had expected Misno back a few days ago. After all, it had been three days since he let Misno go explore and hunt in the Forbidden Forest. He wasn't that far. And Misno traveled fast for a snake. It shouldn't have taken him that long. True, Harry would have known if his familiar was in real danger, but he still worried. The serpent was the only one he could talk to now. He pushed the regret over the Owlspeak amulet far, far away. The ache about Ron, Hermione, and Sirius is pushed even further back.

_Hey there, Fang. Have a good hunt?"_

_I am quite satisfied with the results. And I apologize for taking so long. Truly, I had not meant to._ Harry nodded, and then narrowed his eyes as he thought of something.

_"That reminds me, Fang. How exactly did an amulet I thought I destroyed months ago end up in _his_ hands?"_ Misno shrinks down in shame.

_Very well, I admit it. I made an illusion of the amulet replace the true one when you destroyed Hedwig's amulet. You know I do have some of my own magic. And I truly like that amulet. _Harry frowned. He had been so proud when he created those amulets. It was the first time he had been able to let his creativity take physical form and actually be useful. He had especially liked the Owlspeak one. He didn't need any help to talk to Misno, but to talk to Hedwig? Well, it had been fun while he had it. But then **he** found out. No explanation needed.

Honestly, he had been relieved when he saw that Misno had rescued it. But orders were orders.

_"Hand it over, Fang."_ As soon as his familiar obeyed, Harry threw the amulet into the air and pointed at it, shouting. A burst of magical fire erupted in the air, and when it was gone, only the charred and melted chain remained. Finally. One less thing to get in trouble for. Even though – _no_. He had to stop thinking like that.

Emotions and memories firmly pushed away, Harry sat down again. Even though the first snow of winter had fallen last night, there wasn't a trace of white anywhere near where he sat. He had used a bit of magic last night to melt it all away and bring up the warmth in his twenty-meter-diameter camp. He shivered a bit and brought the warmth up a few more degrees. Comfortable at last, he summoned a well-used notebook and flipped to the next blank sheet. He used it to plan his kills, and had, fearing his wrath,bespelled it until only he could read it or even see anything on it. He pulled the pencil out of the spiraled wire binding the paper and began jotting down his view of the attack on Malfoy Manor and its master, and what went wrong. That was what had let Dumbledore find him, and he was certain that that was what he would focus on during Harry's weekly report.

A half-hour later, his head shot up. Something was wrong. He frowned as he recognized the problem to be all-purpose containment wards, a lesser version of the one he used on Malfoy Manor in his short siege, and turned himself invisible. Who could have found him? Were there some Death Eaters he had forgotten about? No, he had torn apart Voldemort's mind to find any knowledge of his servants. He had even written every name down, and checked each one off after he (or she) was killed. It was a bit morbid, and was very cold-hearted, but it helped to think of the kills as names and numbers, not people. Not mothers or fathers or siblings or anything. Family was a tender subject to the long-orphaned teenager still.

Harry turned to check on his familiars and groaned when he found he couldn't. He couldn't move at all. Apparently the wards were more than containment ones; they had frozen him. His invisibility was a small comfort – his attacker (s) could easily just walk around his now warded camp until he (or she or they) bumped into him, Harry. Panicking now (what if it was someone he knew? what if Dumbledore had found him again? he was going to be in so much trouble!), he grabbed his magic and threw it against the wards. They didn't give. He did it again, only more magic now. Useless again. He turned his magic to the problem of his immobility, but was interrupted when red and gold paint (or something like paint) fell from nowhere, sticking to him and the ground. Revealing his position. Oh no. This was bad. Very bad. He continued throwing his magic around – against the wards, against the paint, and then trying to bring the paint under his invisibility spell. It was all useless. He abandoned the paint and threw all that was left of his magic against the freezing and containment wards. He thought he felt them give a bit, and kept pushing, but then three red jets of light reached his unmoving body, and he never finished breaking through the wards.

Sirius sighed with relief as he pulled James' invisibility cloak off. Behind him, Remus followed suit with the Headmaster's own cloak while Dumbledore shed his invisibility spell. The three raised their wands and, in well-rehearsed unison, spoke the spell to undo the powerful wards they had just raised. Once that was taken care of, Sirius rushed towards the large lump of floating red and gold paint. Yep. It was Harry. He had been afraid that all their planning had been for naught when he saw his _living _godson somehow detect their wards and disappear. Remus had apparently felt the same, for they both instantly whispered the incantations for their paint spell. He had practically fallen to his knees with relief when the paint stopped in midair to surround an invisible Harry. He was even more relieved when their Stunners knocked him out; they weren't sure what kind of defenses Harry would have around him and had been counting on their wards and the sheer power behind their spells to do the trick.

Grinning foolishly now, Sirius waved his wand again to remove the paint and was pleased to see that Harry's invisibility spell had worn off. He stowed his wand and carefully picked his godson up, frowning at how light he felt. Then again, Harry had always been skinny. He turned to see Remus pick up Misno, Hedwig, and Harry's sword, looking curiously around the area – an area clear of snow, strangely enough. Sirius frowned as he realized that he wasn't shivering anymore; Harry must know a spell to warm whole areas. Fascinating.

"Headmaster, when you saw Harry before, did he seem to have anything with him? A bag, a cloak, anything?" Dumbledore turned towards Remus, frowning now too. Sirius was confused at first – what did that have to do with anything? – until he realized what the problem was. There was nothing else in this little makeshift camp. No tent was set up, no bag sat on the ground. There wasn't a fire or even the supplies for one! There didn't even seem to be any food! How was Harry managing without any of that stuff?

"As a matter of fact, Remus, I didn't take much notice of that. Quite frankly, I was too shocked to see Harry at all to really care about what he did or didn't have. Though it is an interesting problem. He could be conjuring things, and he could be hunting or foraging for food, but I am certain that Harry was wearing different clothes than he is now. Where the change of clothes came from, however, I haven't the faintest idea." Seeing that the two seemed quite willing to continue on this tangent, Sirius grew impatient and finally interrupted.

"Look, if it matters so much, we can just add it to our list of questions to ask Harry. But can we get him home now? Who knows when he'll wake up? Or even worse, that god might come! Maybe Harry was here just to wait for him! Can we leave?" His two companions jerked around to him; they probably had forgotten about him. Great.

"Sorry, Padfoot. You're right. Let's get Harry home." Remus moved to his friend with an apologetic little smile. He offered to help carry Harry, but Sirius shook his head. He was just getting over the shock of having his godson alive and in his arms. He wasn't about to let go for a long time. No one could make him.

Not even an arrogant and powerful god of fate.

Author's Note: Hi everyone! You know what's pathetic? This is only half of what I planned to put in Chapter 4. It was supposed to be called Contemplation and Confrontation. But I had to take the main confrontation out because it got too long. So it's just Contemplation. On the upside, I'm maybe halfway through the next chapter. Or the second half of Chapter 4. Whichever.

Anyway, please review and tell me what you think! Please?


	6. Chapter 4b: Interrogation

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other canon characters or plots. JK Rowling does. Any characters that she doesn't own are mine, though.

Chapter 4b: Interrogation

The first thing they did when they landed in the hospital wing was set Harry down on his old, "reserved" bed. The second was to activate the many charms they had to keep him strapped down and helpless. While Sirius and Remus were especially uncomfortable with this and had argued for almost a full day against it, they were eventually reminded of the scenario they needed to create. The ex-convict and werewolf finally agreed to it, realizing that the temporary entrapment of Harry would lead to his freedom.

That's what they hoped, anyway. Sirius still had one more trick to pull off before they could really call Harry free. But first, they needed some answers.

After Madam Pomfrey had assured herself that Harry was as well as could be expected, they administered the Veritaserum and woke him up. Fortunately, the truth potion remained unbeatable and Harry tonelessly answered each question.

"What is your name?"

"Harry James Potter."

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen." Remus glanced at the dictation quill, which had neatly printed the beginning of the interrogation in bright blue ink (to alert teachers of inattentive students) and nodded at Dumbledore. Both potion and quill were working perfectly. The headmaster cleared his throat and continued.

"What happened to you on the evening of September 7th this year, and what happened afterward?"

"I left the castle to visit Hagrid with Ron and Hermione. We had tea. He offered us rock cakes, but we all said that we were full from dinner and that with the tea, we just couldn't put anything else in our mouths." The marauders traded grins, memories of the same sort of situation with Harry's father coming to mind. "He gave us some to have later, and we took them and left. About five minutes away from the castle, I realized that I had left my bag in Hagrid's hut. So I told Ron and Hermione to go on ahead, and I went back for my bag. Halfway there, though, I heard someone start to shout the stunning spell, and I just barely dodged it. I saw Malfoy and his goons, Crabbe and Goyle, smirking at me. But before I could get away, Crabbe and Goyle grabbed me and knocked me out.

"I woke up alone in a cave later; I don't know how long I was unconscious. When I woke up I searched myself and the cave. I still had my wand and a spare piece of parchment from class, and all of my clothes. I was unharmed. There was a pool of fresh water, but I couldn't find the bottom. No spell I tried worked. I have since realized that there was an anti-magic field around the cave. Not even the _lumos_ spell worked. I was completely helpless, despite my health and wand.

"I was in that condition for about two days, I think. I searched the cave for an escape over and over, doing nothing else but drinking water, going to the bathroom in a corner, and sleeping. I may, of course, be a few days or half-days off about how long I was in there.

"I woke up for the third time in that cave to see a figure in front of me. I could feel power practically rolling off him, more power than I had ever felt, even more than when Dumbledore got angry at the imposter last year. He said he was the god of Fate, and that he had an offer for me.

"He said that he could get me out of the cave, help me get revenge on those who had imprisoned me, and give me great power, if I agreed to serve him. He said that my only task would be to rid the world of evil in his name. He said that he was the only one who would ever truly appreciate my skills, and that he could put them to real use. I thought about it. I agreed. He made some strange gesture, and I felt something on my arm, right below my wrists. I looked down in time to see some strange red line cut through my skin. The pain was absolutely indescribable, but I couldn't fight it. I could only scream. I screamed." Harry's voice had grown odd. It seemed as if he was reliving the pain and terror, and that the memory was enough to overpower the dampening effect of the Veritaserum. Except that was impossible. Not even memory of the Cruciatus could put emotion in someone under the potion's influence.

"The next thing I knew, I was on my knees on the ground, and the pain was gone. I looked at my arms, expecting them to be nothing but bloody stumps, but there was no blood. I still had hands. He had created them somehow. Right below my wrists, where the red line had been, were runes. He said they were to represent my new position in life. He gestured again, and a sword fell in front of me. He said that it was magical and tuned to my will. He gestured again, and a snake appeared. It was asleep. It was red, gold, green, and silver. He said that the snake was my new magical familiar, and that he would let me figure the details out. Then he told me to pick the snake and sword up, and as soon as I did that, he grabbed my shoulder and we disappeared. The next thing I knew, we were in a forest somewhere. I believe it was in Germany, but I'm not sure.

"The god of Fate told me that he would leave me to figure everything out by myself. He said I had two weeks, and then I would begin my service. He said that I was not to contact anyone at all, that he would know if I did. He said that I was not to let anyone know I was still alive. I could do whatever I wanted with myself within those boundaries, though. Then the snake woke up, and bit my wrist. I fell unconscious. The last thing I was aware of was power everywhere. It was in my mind, my blood, my body, and all around me. Then I lost unconsciousness."

"That will do." Dumbledore interrupted quietly. Harry obediently fell silent. For a minute no one spoke as they absorbed Harry's story. Sirius was certain that if he hadn't had lots of time beforehand to imagine worse scenarios, he would be freaking out completely. Remus quietly cast a quick spell on the parchment to give it a few more feet. It was almost full with the dictation quill's bright blue words. Dumbledore glanced at the list of questions, crossed out a few of them with his own quill, and moved on to the next.

"What is the exact relationship between you and the god of Fate?" Harry opened his mouth to answer, but then snapped it shut with an audible click. Sirius and Remus glanced sharply up at him, then as one turned to Dumbledore, the obvious question on their lips. They still had at least another half-hour of time before the Veritaserum wore off. They were interrupted by Harry, who had gasped. The teenager's eyes, which had been clouded by the truth potion, were now completely clear, but filled with fear. He rolled his eyes frantically, trying to grasp the situation. Soon his entire body started writhing, clearly trying to break free of the physical and magical bonds holding him down. Sirius and Remus leapt up to calm him down, to no avail.

"Harry, stop, you'll hurt yourself…"

"Harry, it's fine, you're safe, it's alright…" But Harry ignored them both. His breath was coming in short gasps and his eyes had clouded over again, this time with definite fear.

"Let me go! Don't you get it? I can't be near you! He'll make me kill you! I can't be near anyone! Let me go! He's here!" Suddenly he was rigid – with terror, apparently. Stunned, Sirius glanced over to where his godson was staring now and frowned. There was nothing there. Nothing but a chair.

A chair that splintered and shattered as the god of fate appeared in its place.

Author's Note: Sorry! Sorry! I had the majority of this written back when I last updated, but somehow it got deleted and I couldn't work the motivation up to rewrite it. Well, I finally did, but then I realized that Confrontation really didn't describe this chapter, so I gave it a new name.

Either way, I need to go, or Mom will really start to yell at me. (I'm supposed to be doing my homework right now. See, I'm taking AP Chemistry right now, and I really hate it. It's about the only homework I have, but I don't feel like tackling it. So I tackled this instead, and look! A chapter! A really short one, yes, but it's here!) But I do have to get to homework, since dinner will be soon and then I'm probably going to have to go to my sister's concert. Yeah, Mom's here. I need to go.


	7. Chapter 5: Negotiation

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other canon characters or plots. JK Rowling does. Any characters that she doesn't own are mine, though.

Chapter 5: Negotiation

"How dare you?" the god demanded, staring at Harry. Harry blanched and tried to shrink into the bed. When that failed, he gathered his courage and began to explain.

"Please, my Lord, I've been trying to get out. They put some sort of restraint on me, and I can't get rid of it. I've been trying, honest!" Fate glared at Harry.

"Silence! While I may accept that you were unable to free yourself from this," he gestured at the bed and the suddenly-visible restraint spells before continuing, "you should have prevented it from ever happening! How did they discover your existence?"

"It wasn't his fault!" Sirius jumped in, glaring at the god. "Harry told you the truth. Why do you think we restrained him? He already escaped from us once before, and I wasn't about to let my godson get away again!" Sirius really wished he could pull his wand on Fate and force him to release Harry. He shook his head to stop fantasizing about the curses he'd use on him and returned to the problem at hand. Specifically, the god of Fate yelling at his godson.

"Then you should have killed them! I specifically ordered you to ensure – by any means necessary – that none knew of your continued existence. And you disobeyed me!" Harry, a rebellious gleam in his eye, opened his mouth to argue, but snapped it shut when Fate made a quick gesture – as if he was pulling something back. Harry stared in horror at the god's hands but quickly turned his terrified eyes to his own hands. Sirius saw that Harry's wrists were glowing with strange runes. He didn't have time to worry over them, though, because Harry had started to scream and twist his body about, trying to escape the pain.

Sirius looked at Remus and Dumbledore, horrified. That wasn't part of their plan! They all started shouting at Fate, telling him to stop, it wasn't Harry's fault, but the god ignored them. Dumbledore raised his wand to try and stop it himself, but a barrier arose and blocked the charm. Desperate, Remus grabbed Madam Pomfrey's strongest pain-relieving potion from a shelf and banished some of the liquid to Harry's open mouth. Madam Pomfrey swore that a swallow of that potion would stop the pain from the Cruciatus. Remus had used it occasionally, after very bad transformations. He hoped it would work for Harry.

It did. As soon as the potion reached Harry's tongue, he stopped screaming and writhing around. He dropped his hands and fell back, limp on the bed, unconscious. Fate turned to Remus, furious.

"You dare to interfere? He is my Hunter, and I shall deal with him as I see fit!" He hissed. Remus crossed his arms nonchalantly, watching Sirius take care of Harry. It looked like Harry had been trying to wrench his whole body away from his own hands or something. Whatever he had done, though, he had rubbed most of his body raw, fighting the restraints. The werewolf knew pain very well, especially the pain of fighting magical restraints. He did it every full moon. He was impressed that Harry hadn't been knocked unconscious from that pain by itself, let alone the pain from whatever the god had done to him. Hopefully Harry would be alright. They would let Madam Pomfrey take care of him soon, but first Sirius had to get Fate's attention.

"So what? He's my godson, and I'm going to make sure he's safe. Especially from you!" Remus inwardly winced and smirked at the same time. That definitely got the god's attention. And his bad mood.

"You dare oppose me? I am a god! How I treat my servants is none of your concern!" Perfect. Now Sirius had the perfect opening.

"Yeah well, keep on treating him like this and you ruin your chance to return to power!" Fate narrowed his eyes at Sirius.

"What are you talking about, mortal? I am in power. I am Fate!"

"Then you should know that it is the fate of mortals – which Harry still is, by the way – to die. Then where are you?" Sirius smirked, seemingly unconcerned by the force of divine irritation directed completely at him. "I did some research. The only way you can get a real servant, not some crummy seer like Trelawney, is by forming some sort of link between you and a mortal. And from what the books say, making that link stick is pretty hard for you, especially if the mortal's unwilling. But it's far easier if your new servants are the children of your old servants, right?"

"That is true," the god grudgingly admitted. "Yet that has no relevance to the topic at hand, which is whether or not I should kill you for interfering between me and my servant!"

"The topic at hand," Sirius retorted, "is how you should treat Harry, your only really useful servant. My point is that if Harry has kids, you'll have more potential servants. And the only way Harry would ever try to father a child is if he knew he could raise the child in the proper environment – in a family! So, if you want to be able to have more servants, which would give you more power and influence, then you have to let Harry start a family! That means he has to interact with people, especially the people he already considers friends and family!"

"I see," Fate smiled. "You think that I will allow my servant to waste time socializing with you so he will produce offspring to serve me. But what is to stop me from simply ordering him to wed and impregnate any woman I choose?"

"The fact that Harry wouldn't. That's not the kind of person he is. Even if he had to, he would still teach his kids to refuse to work for you in revenge. And if both he and his children are unwilling, you wouldn't be able to take advantage of their blood link to form your links to them. So the only way you'll get Harry to give you more potential servants is to let him marry and start a family with somebody he picks. So you have to give him back to us. Otherwise the Potter line of Fate's Servants ends with Harry." Sirius folded his arms and smirked again, certain of victory.

"Were I to do that, he would spend years frolicking about and even more years courting girls before settling down! He would waste precious time doing that, time he could better spend doing my will!" Fate snapped.

"What's more important to you – a few decades of a single servant's service, or an entire family line of servants that could last centuries?" Sirius returned. "I thought gods cared more about the long-term, not the quick and easy solution."

"Even if I agreed to this, I would have no certainty of such a line! He might pick a barren woman to be his wife, or his children could still refuse to serve me, even with his agreement. And then the years I let him spend courting and playing would be in vain!"

"But you're a god," Sirius pointed out. "You could make sure that whichever girl Harry marries is fertile – you could probably make her have kids in twos and threes! And if Harry's allowed to come out of hiding and have some time off with us, then he would probably make sure at least one or two of his children would want to serve you. It's not like you'd need all of them – just a couple, right?"

"That is true," the god conceded. "Very well. I will allow the boy to interact with whomever he chooses and live as an ordinary mortal, provided that he performs services for me whenever I need him, and provided that he marry and produce offspring to serve me within the next ten years."

"That would probably work," Sirius agreed. "But you can't call him to do stuff for you every day. He's only fifteen. He still has to finish up Hogwarts, and he'd need to get a job afterwards. You could only call him every once in a while."

"Would once a year be acceptable to you, mortal?" Fate asked testily.

"I'd be thrilled with that, but I imagine Harry can scrounge up more free time than that. I think once every two months would be good, at least while Harry's still in school." The god considered this and nodded. "Though Harry would have to agree with this as well," Sirius added, not wanting to give Harry no choice again.

Fate disagreed. "Two parties only are necessary in a negotiation, mortal, and that's what this is. You have argued on behalf of my servant; therefore you represent his desires. If you agree to this conclusion, then it is done. The only say he gets in this is what you have already said." Sirius opened his mouth to argue but closed it, thinking. He was lucky that the god had been willing to negotiate Harry's contract at all. Sirius had always been a risk-taker, but it being Harry's future at stake, he had best be more cautious. Besides, the terms Fate was suggesting weren't that unreasonable; they were far better than what the god had originally offered Harry. Surely Harry wouldn't mind this.

Sirius nodded. "Alright then. You leave Harry alone except for once every two months until he's graduated Hogwarts, and then you and he can figure out a different schedule. He gets married, has at least one kid within the next ten years, and makes sure that at least one of his children –"

"Two" Fate interrupted.

"– At least two, then, of his children also enter your service at a reasonable age. Other than that, though, Harry gets to live his life as he would have if none of this ever happened." Sirius ticked each point off on his finger as he listed it and concluded with a small glare fixed on the god that had messed with his godson's life.

Fate nodded. "I agree to all of this. As a sign of this change, furthermore – " he flicked his fingers at Harry, and the runes on his wrists glowed and faded into nothingness. He picked up Harry's sword next and traced a design onto it. It responded by shrinking to the size of a small dagger, which he lay down on the dresser next to the scroll of parchment. Fate, seeing the interrogation recorded on it, frowned until the parchment quietly incinerated itself. Then he looked around and hissed until Harry's fork-tongued familiar slithered up, only a foot long. The two hissed back and forth for a few minutes, Misno shrinking and growing as the conversation went on, until finally the god hissed out a sharp, commanding sort of sentence. The snake settled on close to three feet long and draped himself over his master. Finally, Fate reached a hand out to his servant, made a dismissing gesture, nodded as the restraining spells ended, and disappeared.

Sirius, blinking in surprise at the sudden change, turned around to see Dumbledore and Remus staring right back at him, the same mix of shock and relief on their faces as well. The three men sank into chairs and beds and looked, as one, at the young man lying on the bed.

The young man that groaned and stirred himself awake, only to sit up, look around and frown in confusion.

"Wha? I thought – where did – what happened?" As he stared at the room now empty of his master, Sirius smiled and shifted until he could place a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"I've got some good news for you, Harry."

Author's Note: Sorry this has taken so long. Quite frankly, I haven't written in so long simply because I didn't want to. I have had the whole thing planned almost the entire time, but I have a hard time convincing myself to just sit down and type. Thus the year and a half of nothing.

Hopefully I'll update again soon. I only want to write one or two more chapters, and then this will be complete. I do want to finish this, but I'm not sure how long it'll take.


	8. Chapter 6: Return

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other canon characters or plots. JK Rowling does. Any characters that she doesn't own are mine, though.

Chapter 6: Return

Harry pulled a leg close to him, leaving his left leg to dangle in open air. He was sitting on the Quidditch hoop, balancing his weight right on top of the pole, sitting on the bottom of the hoop. Hermione would have lectured him for days on the dangers of such a position, and Ron would have been shocked and impressed, but eventually he would accept it as one of those things that Harry Potter did all the time. At least, that's what they would have done if they knew he did this and had done it for three years now, but he never told them or anyone else. He liked it that way. Here, where no one else would dare come, he was safe. Here, where the wind was in his face constantly, he could think.

He had a lot to think about now. Just two days ago, he had been certain that his dreams were gone, faster and more elusive than any snitch, and he could not retrieve them. He was sure that his life was over, that he was nothing more than a god's valuable, powerful slave. He had quietly bid farewell to his friends months ago and hadn't been able to handle it when he saw them again. They were dead to him, had to be, and it was stupid to even think about them or anything else from his old life.

He was wrong.

Harry had been terrified when he felt the link between him and his master strengthening, signifying that the god was coming. He knew the punishment he was in for, knew there was no excuse that could prevent the pain, but he tried.

Then the pain came. He screamed and screamed, because he could do nothing else. He couldn't escape his own hands, and they were the source. There was nothing but the excruciating pain, there had never been anything else, and it would go on and on for eternity …

Then even the pain was gone. He floated in nothingness, because there was nothing. He floated gladly, because even nothingness was better than the pain. He wondered if this was death. Considering the pain that life was and always had been, he would happily take death.

When he woke up, he discovered that Remus, an old veteran of pain, had managed to get some powerful sort of pain-relieving potion down his throat, stopping the pain and sending him deep into blissful unconsciousness. He would forever be grateful to him for that. And he was even deeper in debt with Sirius. Sirius hadn't stopped the pain, but he had removed the possibility of future pain. Sirius had wrested Harry's life back. It wasn't exactly the same, but that was okay. Harry again had friends, freedom, and a future.

A future filled with his dreams.

After Madam Pomfrey gave him another potion to ease his throat after all his screaming and pronounced him fit, he, Remus, and Sirius had gone with the Headmaster up to his office to decide how to return Harry to society and Hogwarts. He was legally dead, after all, and changing that was slightly difficult. For Harry, who was even less accustomed to even small groups of people than before, the prospect of a public appearance to dispel all doubts (the usual method) was too dreadful to consider for long.

Dumbledore suggested that Harry wait a week before returning to classes, while he handled the bureaucracy and the media. Both told the public the next day that Harry was alive and well, despite being captured and tortured by Voldemort until Harry escaped and made his staggering way back to Hogwarts, where Madam Pomfrey competently restored him to health, and that Harry would be attending classes with therapy on the side, to help him put his ordeal behind him.

The first few "therapy" sessions would actually be storytime hour, essentially. Harry had insisted on telling Ron and Hermione the full, true story. They were his best friends, and they deserved it after they had helped restore his life. He was also considering telling other friends, like Neville, Ginny, or the twins. The other therapy sessions would be experimentation. With Fate's permission, they would be trying to determine the new limits of Harry's power.

Reminded of his master, Harry lifted his hand and gazed at his wrist. The runes rarely were visible, but the power in them had always pulsed as a constant reminder of the contract between him and Fate. He could still detect the power with minimal effort, but it actually took effort now, instead of being the first thing on his mind constantly. It was a relief. More importantly, it symbolized the new rules of the contract. Sirius had explained the basics, and his Crimson Fang had filled in the extra, the things that Fate had told the snake to tell Harry.

_All that your godfather said is true, master. The god will allow you to live your own life, provided that you perform a service for him once every two months until l your schooling ends. You then have ten years to choose a mate and produce an heir to show that you will eventually present the god with at least two young servants with blood links to him. Though, _and here the snake had shrunk a foot, his equivalent of whispering, _it is very likely that the god will somehow ensure that your mate immediately produces multiple children for you. He really wants more servants, master._

Harry frowned, remembering that while he would have his dream family, he would have to force his kids into something that he hated. How could he do that? Could he really sentence innocent children to such a fate – he smiled weakly at his own little pun – just so he could have his dream?

"There you are kiddo. Man, how do you manage staying up here? Did you use a sticking charm or something to keep from falling off?" Harry looked up, startled, to see his godfather grinning at him, sitting on his own broom. Poking out of his robes was the crinkled old parchment Sirius had helped create. Harry grimaced inwardly. He had forgotten about the Marauders' Map. Outwardly, though, he shrugged at Sirius.

"It's not that difficult, actually. I just can't move too much, or I'll lose my balance. I've done this for years." Sirius shook his head.

"I'm not that surprised, really. Your dad used to come up here and fly for hours. He said that he flew too fast for his thoughts to keep up." Harry's eyes lit up at the mention of his parent, delighted at the story that just two days ago he thought he'd never hear.

"Really?" was all he could get out, but Sirius grinned at him and continued.

"Yeah. Your mum, on the other hand, would either read some muggle book of hers or practice high-level charms. It's one of the reasons she's so good at them. She would look for ones not taught in class, teach herself them, and work on them until she could cast each one perfectly. Then she could go to sleep right away, instead of staying up all night worrying." Sirius noticed Harry's confusion and clarified, "Lily worried all the time. She stressed over her friends' troubles, over her fights with your aunt, over how she did as a prefect and Head Girl, and over her grades. After she graduated and married James, she worried about the war, about James and her pregnancy, about you after you were born – you know, would you have your dad's bad eyesight, your mum's horrible performance in herbology and astronomy, or, after the prophecy, what would happen between you and Voldemort. Your mum worried a lot, Harry. She hid it well, but her roommates at Hogwarts told James and us. Half the time your dad teased her, it was to get her to relax. He struggled the entire time they were together to get her to stop stressing out. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes he joined her when she practiced spellwork. He took her flying a few times, even, but Lily wasn't too big on flying." Sirius smiled at Harry's clear pleasure at such a long story. "You get all your flight ability from your dad, you know."

"I didn't know," Harry admitted. "I knew Dad was good, but I always wondered how Mum did. Thanks for telling me, Sirius. And, Sirius, thank you – so much – for stopping him and, and" Harry couldn't go on. He had forgotten about his dilemma during the story, but it rushed back now.

"Kiddo, what's wrong? Look, I'm sorry we didn't ask you before Fate came. The whole plan rested on you not knowing what we were up too. And I'm sorry for scaring you, and capturing you, and covering you with that paint, and for putting you through all that pain, but I couldn't think of anything else. I should have asked first, and I'm very sorry for that." Harry looked at his godfather.

"You think that bothers me? Sirius, that was the best thing anyone's ever done for me. I can't thank you enough for that. It's just, well, Sirius how can I do it?" Sirius floated a little closer and peered at his godson's face.

"Do what, Harry?"

"He'll let me have a family, but only if I force two of my kids to serve him! I hate working for him! How can I be so selfish and let my kids do his dirty work, just so I can pretend I'm anything close to normal?" Sirius blinked in surprise.

"Harry, that won't happen. No, no, listen to me. Before we did any of this, we did some research on that god of yours. He used to have whole families devoted to serving him. But they didn't all do the same thing. Some would be hunters, like you are, but some would be seers or priests or priestesses. Very few of them actually killed people, Harry. Your kids won't kill people, Harry. Fate wants real servants – people that knowingly do his will or speak for him. He's worked through partial seers like Trelawney for centuries, but he doesn't like that. One of your kids might have visions or end up teaching divination here. Or maybe he or she'll help the centaurs read the stars clearer to see their real fates. Maybe one of your descendants will work for the ministry and tell them what's a good idea, and what's not. They've got plenty of options, kid, don't worry."

"You mean it?" Harry asked hopefully. That didn't sound too bad. His kids would have good futures, safe and innocent. Maybe this could work out, after all.

"I mean it," Sirius promised. He floated a bit away. "Now, I gotta admit, Harry, we've been kind of worried about you – you've been missing for a few hours. Besides, I'm still nervous watching you on that perch of yours. What do you say we go inside?" Harry smiled and shook his head.

"I still want to think a bit. I'll head inside in a little, okay?" When his godfather nodded and left, Harry resumed his old position and thought about the rest of what his familiar had told him. Harry could have a semi-normal life, now. He could even use his new powers and play with them a bit. He could recreate those amulets and do a dozen other things he had wanted to do, but hadn't been able to before. Harry grinned and jumped off the hoop, letting his magic safely deposit him on the ground. Sirius had assumed that Harry's broom was shrunken or on the ground somewhere. He probably had thought that Harry would summon it back up to fly back to the school.

The teenager smirked. He didn't need brooms anymore. He could fly by himself. He could do anything he wanted now.

He was alive again.

Author's Note: Look, look! It's been less than a year or even six months between updates! Isn't that awesome?

What isn't awesome, though, is the lack of reviews. I live on reviews, people! Please, review and tell me what you think! Please!


	9. Chapter 7: Happiness

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any other canon characters or plots. JK Rowling does. Any characters that she doesn't own are mine, though.

Chapter 7: Happiness

Harry grinned down at Asismisno, ignoring the brand-new corpse a few meters away. "_Great job, Fang! Now that that's settled, we're free for another two months."_ He had returned to his original method for dealing with targets – distract them until Misno reached their feet, grew to a more dangerous size (his snake's venom was more potent was he was larger) and bit them, and then leave while the Death Eater, aspiring Dark Lord, or otherwise-titled evil magic-user literally fell to the unstoppable poison – now that he was rid of the depression. And Harry had indeed been depressed while working for the God of Fate. Of course, after his friends managed to persuade the god into giving Harry more freedom, Harry no longer needed to be so melancholy. After all, he was (mostly) free, Voldemort and his Death Eaters were dead, and he had his friends, his familiars, and a new family. Sirius and Remus - who he considered to be a better uncle than Vernon had ever been - had opened their house to him and Harry had begun designing his own room a week later. Ron and Hermione had not only instantly forgiven him for yelling at them and freezing them, they had kept the crowds of Hogwarts at bay until Harry could handle lots of people again. Hermione had brought him up to speed on his studies, and everyone had been amazed at his new capacity for learning.

Harry twisted his smile to one side, considering the source of his new learning speed. He still didn't know if Fate had done it when he first hired Harry or when he had changed the contract, but he did know that Fate had messed with his head. He could read faster, think faster, and remember almost anything perfectly. Beyond that, Harry now knew that he was much faster and stronger than anyone his age and probably most adults. He had dueled first Sirius, then Remus, and even _Dumbledore_ to either a victory or a standstill.

Not that he was suddenly excelling at everything, though. He still stunk at potions and herbology, history of magic still put him to sleep, and he still only saw lots of fog in crystal balls. Harry supposed that was a good thing, though. It was bad enough that he was the Boy-Who-Came-Back-To-Life-Again, bad enough that he was matching Hermione in reading and retention, that Harry dreaded to think what would happen if he was suddenly top in every class. Hermione would go ballistic, he was sure.

Hermione… Harry changed direction and beckoned for Misno to follow him. "_Come on, Fang – I've got a great idea!"_ It was Ron's birthday tomorrow, but Ron had insisted that instead of celebrating just his birthday, they should celebrate their reunion. There had, of course, been a party once the Gryffindor House had realized that Harry was alive, but Ron thought they should finally have a private party: just Ron, Hermione, Harry, Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, and Ginny. Harry had been surprised at the youngest Weasley's inclusion until he realized that Ginny had been hanging out with Ron and Hermione in his absence. She hadn't replaced him, as his friends had quickly reassured him; she had just joined their group.

Not that Harry minded. In fact, he found himself fairly impressed with Ginny. She had replaced him as Seeker and done a great job, and they had taken to trading off for Quidditch matches. She had clearly moved on from her traumatic first year, as she demonstrated with her fascination with Misno. She could even understand him, sort of, as a leftover from Voldemort's possession of her.

So Ginny would be at their party tomorrow. And, since the party was for everyone and Ron, they had decided to all get each other gifts. And Harry had just thought of three great gifts. Hermione's might be a bit tricky, but Ron's and Ginny's should be easy enough…

Harry left the body of Delores Umbridge, dark witch, far behind as he prepared his magic for a project he had abandoned months ago.

* * *

Ron tore open his present from Bill and Charlie. Neither of them was in England, but they had managed to collaborate on a birthday gift for him. Ron gaped as the charms on the small box deactivated, revealing a full-sized, brand-new Starfire, the latest American broom. It was supposedly the best broom in America and was the preferred broom of the Chudley Cannons. Grinning in delight, the sixteen-year-old resolved to get his older brothers the best Christmas presents he could while he showed off his new broom to Hermione.

"It's the Cannon's favorite broom, and it's supposed to be at least as fast as the Nimbus Two Thousand, but it's better at changing direction –"

"Which would be good for Keeping, I suppose?" Hermione interrupted a tolerant look in her eyes. The two got along much better now, especially since they had come to a compromise at the beginning of Quidditch season: Hermione would fully support Ron as the new Keeper and Ron would be more diligent in his studies. Now he struggled to finish essays two days before they were due, so Hermione could review and edit them at her leisure, and he actually took notes in most of his classes, leading to a steady improvement in his grades. He still slept through History of Magic, though. Hermione, in turn, now came down with Ron for practices and sometimes stayed on the field with him after, so Ron could coach her on the finer points of flight. She was much more confident on a broom now, though she would probably never play more than amateur Quidditch.

"Yeah, it would, and – hey, what's that, Ginny?" Ginny had picked up her last present and was turning it over in her hands. Ron would never understand why Ginny tried to figure out what her presents were without opening them – he just tore them open and was surprised every time.

"I'm not sure, but you've got a package like it, right there, and so does Hermione." Ron and Hermione both turned to their piles and, sure enough, a small, brightly wrapped box was at the bottoms. "Oh!" Ginny had finally given up trying to guess and, at Harry's encouragement, opened her present. It was a small pendant on a chain. It was gold and had six sides, with a red snake in the shape of a T on it. The chain was also gold and quite delicate. Hermione leaned in and admired it.

"It's beautiful, Ginny. Harry, where did you get it?" Harry smiled shyly. He was pleased to watch Ginny gaze at it a moment longer before putting it on. She then picked it up again to look at it some more, before she also turned to Harry.

"Yeah, Harry, and why a snake that looks like a T?"

"Wait a minute, Ginny – let Ron and Hermione open theirs, too." Harry responded. After Ron and Hermione began to curiously open their gifts, too, he continued. "Actually, I didn't find it anywhere. I made it. I made all three of them." Sirius looked carefully at Ginny's pendant and frowned for a second.

"This looks a lot like that amulet Fang used, to let us understand him. Except the snake on that amulet was green, and this one's red. Is it the same sort of thing, Harry?" Dumbledore also leaned forward and examined the necklace to see that Sirius was right. When Harry just widened his grin, they all turned to watch the sixteen year olds pick similar amulets up. Upon examination, Ron announced that his was red with a gold owl on it, and Hermione's had a cat's face on hers, but the same color scheme as Ron's. All of them began peppering Harry for answers. Harry pretended to fend them off with raised hands and explained.

"They are like my Parsel-amulet, except that they translate for different animals. Ron's will translate Owlspeak, and Hermione's should – I'm not sure, I never tested it – translate whatever cats say into English. I know the Parseltongue and Owlspeak ones work, since I've made those before, but I don't have a cat, so I couldn't be sure. And, Ginny, I know you can sort of understand Fang now, but, well, I think the reason you understand him is because he's totally magical and already tied to a human. That should work for all snakes. Of course, if any of you don't like it, it's fi-"Harry never got to finish his babbling explanation, because Hermione and Ginny both threw themselves at him, exclaiming (with Ron's voice doing the same thing in the background) that they loved their presents and there was no way he was taking them back, and thank you, thank you. Harry just blinked, slightly confused, and turned to Sirius for help. Sirius just grinned.

"Sorry, kiddo, but you're on your own here. It's your own fault really, making them necklaces that had magical properties. And if I haven't said it already, thanks for this." Sirius gestured to the magical miniature sculpture Harry had made and given to his godfather and honorary uncle. It had an obsidian dog, werewolf, and stag that played all over the obsidian base. Harry had bought the obsidian and shaped it with his new talent for creative magic. At the base was a plaque that simply read "_Messrs. Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs: a brotherhood of love"_. Sirius and Remus had been watching it intently ever since they opened it and had already thanked Harry many times. Each time, Harry just pointed out that they had done far more for him than he could ever do for them.

When Harry's eyes turned to Remus, instead, he found that Remus had already turned back to watching the animals frolic. Remus probably hadn't even noticed that anything was happening besides a small sculpture's enchantment.

Harry finally begged Ron for help. Laughing, Ron put his amulet on and got up to pull Hermione off Harry. Both girls snapped out of it and apologized, Ginny blushing bright red, for smothering him. Harry shook his head and forgave them. He checked to make sure that his new holsters – one for his wand and one for his dagger – were undamaged, and stood up. He caught his new Snitch again and put it back in its box, which he then stuck inside his new book-bag. Hermione and Ron had bought it for him and had enchanted it themselves to be able to hold just about anything. The holsters were from Sirius and Remus. The snitch was from Ginny. Dumbledore had given Harry a pensieve, explaining that 

perhaps it would be nice for Harry to use it to organize his memories of "when he was dead," as the headmaster had whimsically put it. Harry thought it would help quite a bit. He rather looked forward to being able to take out his memories of all the people he had killed and of every time Fate had punished him.

Checking to make sure that everyone else had also put their presents away, Harry smiled broadly and led the way to Ron's birthday cake. He handed the knife to Ron, who happily cut himself a large piece before letting Hermione enchant the knife to cut equally-sized slices for everyone else. Ginny settled down and began to feed Crimson Fang chocolate frosting, smiling as the snake hissed a perfectly understandable _"thank you"_ to her. Sirius successfully distracted Remus with a plate of cake and a fork. Dumbledore tucked his brand-new socks into one of his many pockets and gravely thanked the cake knife for his slice of cake. The group chatted, joked, and laughed as they enjoyed each other's company.

* * *

_Two years later, Christmas time_

Harry nervously adjusted his collar and began a minute examination of his dress robes. Misno lazily hissed that he looked fine, except that he should probably clean the blood off his hand. Harry glared down at the splotches of red and hurried to the bathroom to wash the only reminder of his latest job for his boss. Fate had sent him after a dark wizard that had formed an alliance with a vampire and had bred a nundu. Asismisno's venom hadn't been able to kill the vampire or the nundu, so Harry had needed to conjure up a shield around the nundu's face to suffocate it while he engaged the vampire in a sword fight. Harry had won, of course, with only a few sword-scratches to heal. Normally he just let such injuries heal slowly, but since the battle had just ended two hours ago, Harry had been in a bit of a rush. Apparently he had missed a scratch, and it hadn't closed before letting some blood ooze out.

Again, normally Harry wouldn't bother with such a small problem, but he wanted to look his best tonight. He hadn't attended a Yule ball since his fourth year, and what's more, he hadn't been quite so nervous about his date then. Certain now that his appearance, at least, was immaculate, Harry grabbed the corsage and went to pick up Ginny. As an absolutely stunning Ginny and he walked through the common room, Harry saw Ron get up off his knees for the tenth time that day, put a small black jewelry box back in his pocket, and take a deep breath. Harry pointed her brother out to Ginny, who giggled a bit.

"Do you think he'll actually ask her tonight?" She murmured to him as he helped her out the portrait hole. "Thank you, Harry."

"You're welcome. I know he wants to. But y'know, he's much more confident these days. I really think he will"

"He better be confident. He's the Head Boy, after all – he's confident enough to take and give points and to give detentions, he should be brave enough to ask his girlfriend of 19 months to marry him!" Ginny shook her head at her brother. Harry knew what she meant. Gone was the uncertain 

younger brother that was eternally in the shadows of his friends and family. Now Ron was the confident Head Boy, an excellent Keeper, and even one of the better students in most of their classes. He had taken three weeks to work up the courage to ask Hermione out 19 months ago, true, but now they were one of the happiest (and mushiest) couples in Hogwarts. And two months ago, Ron had bought her a small ring, using that as an excuse to learn her ring size for the ring that now sat in his pocket.

Romance seemed to be blooming everywhere, Harry thought idly. He and Ginny were an established couple, Ron and Hermione were probably going to be married within a year now, most of their year-mates were coupled, and even Sirius was dating their new defense teacher. Harry still didn't know how to feel about strict Professor Handley being almost constantly hand-in-hand with his godfather, but Sirius was happy, so Harry supposed he could deal with it. And, of course, most of Hogwarts had cheered when Professor Dumbledore announced that Hagrid would be taking a leave of absence with his new wife, the ex-headmistress of Beauxbatons. Granted, Malfoy and his gang were probably cheering for a different reason, and attendance for Care of Magical Creatures had certainly increased with Charlie Weasley as the new teacher, but Harry at least was happy for his first friend.

But then, Harry concluded as he spun Ginny around, it certainly wasn't a bad thing for romance to be the new standard for relationships. Maybe in a few years, when Harry had a definite contract with Puddlemere United and was certain that his paycheck could support himself and a few others, well, maybe, just maybe…

Crimson Fang hissed happily from his vantage point in a window, where Hedwig had deposited him. Yes, his plan had worked. His master was finally, completely happy.

THE END

Author's Note: Well, I'm finally finished. I hope you're all happy with this. I know I am, and I am definitely please to finally be done. And no, there's no sequel. Writing this was hard enough. For those that want more information, yes Ron and Hermione matched up, as did Harry and Ginny and Sirius and the newly introduced Professer Handley. And yeah, Fate sees to it that Ginny has two sets of twins, with a girl in the middle. You can pick names for them. They're all very happy and the oldest set of twins agreed to serve Fate as soon as they turned 15. They don't do dangerous stuff, though.

Do you like Umbridge being one of Harry's targets? I liked putting that in.

Well, now all I can say is please review and tell me what you think of the finished work!


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